Peanut Butter Salmonella Probe Very Active

Posted by admin on Jan 18, 2009 in Injury | 0 comments

> Federal health officials are urging consumers to "postpone" eating cookies, crackers, cereal, ice cream and other products that contain peanut butter or peanut paste until experts determine which products contain potentially contaminated ingredients from a plant in Georgia.

The precaution is part of an effort to protect consumers from an ongoing outbreak of Salmonella Typhimurium that has been associated with six deaths and 474 illnesses in 43 states. Leading food safety lawyer Fred Pritzker has initiated a Peanut Corporation of America Lawsuit on behalf of the heirs of Shirley Mae Almer, one of the deceased.

Pritzker was interviewed by the ABC and CBS affiliate TV networks in Minneapolis-St. Paul to discuss the outbreak. He told KSTP-TV that the situation is difficult for consumers because they can’t readily tell what peanut butter products will put them at risk for getting sick.

The founder and president of Pritzker Law told WCCO-TV that Mrs. Almer was "the canary in the coal mine” because her Salmonella illness and death on Dec. 21 led Minnesota health investigators to be the first to associate the outbreak with peanut butter made at the Blakely, Georgia, plant of Peanut Corporation of America.

Mrs. Almer, 72, was living in a long-term care facility when she consumed a piece of toast topped with King Nut creamy peanut butter. When the facility’s open container of peanut butter was tested, Minnesota officials found a genetic match to the strain of Salmonella that first emerged in mid-September. Soon after, Peanut Corporation of America and Ohio-based King Nut Companies, a distributor of peanut butter made at the Georgia plant, announced product recalls.

Investigation Update

Scientists from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration briefed reporters Saturday afternoon on the latest developments of the investigation. Here are updates from the press conference:

1. Peanut Corporation of America has idled its George plant pending the Salmonella investigation.
2. The company also has expanded its recall to include all peanut butter made at the plant since August 8, 2008; and all peanut paste made at the plant since September 26, 2008.
3. The potentially contaminated peanut butter was sold in bulk containers ranging in size from five pounds to 1,700 pounds. The peanut paste (ground roasted peanuts) was sold in bulk containers ranging in size from 35 pounds to tanker loads.
4. Federal authorities, working with food makers who bought ingredients from the Georgia plant, are developing a detailed list of products that may contain adulterated peanut stock. The list will be posted soon on the FDA’s website.
5. Kellogg Company has expanded an alert to consumers that recalls snack crackers containing peanut butter. Kellogg also is recalling 7 million select snack packs of Famous Amos peanut butter cookies and Keebler Soft Batch Homestyle Peanut Butter cookies.
6. Food companies that bought peanut butter or peanut paste from the Georgia plant to use as ingredients in cookies, cakes, candies, cereal, ice cream and other products are being urged to issue product recalls if necessary.
7. The FDA and CDC continue to say that no association has been found between the outbreak and name-brand peanut butter that consumers buy at grocery stores. The bulk peanut butter made by Peanut Corporation of America was sold to nursing homes, hospitals, school cafeterias and other commercial accounts.
8. The most severe illnesses are being found in young, elderly and immuno-compromised patients.
9. 23 percent of people infected by the bacteria have been hospitalized.

If you or someone you love has been sickened by the Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak, you may be entitled to compensation. Contact the salmonella lawyers at Pritzker Law . The firm has collected millions of dollars on behalf of food poisoning victims.

Tags: king Nut peanut butter, peanut butter salmonella lawsuit, salmonella lawyer